A delegation of agricultural scientists representing the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), as well as various research centers of the Republic of Türkiye, is visiting Turkmenistan.

According to the publication “Turkmenistan: Golden Age”, the delegation’s tasks include holding a series of lectures, as well as business meetings with representatives of the country’s relevant departments.

The scientific and practical lecture series is devoted to preventive and quarantine measures against rust, including training in methods of detecting and destroying a new type of disease – wheat rust. We are talking about a particularly virulent type of this disease, which appeared in Uganda in 1999, and therefore its name is Ug-99. Since then, the disease has been rapidly spreading around the world, transmitted by air and animals.

This particular African form (or race) has not been identified on the territory of Turkmenistan.

To discuss the topic, FAO experts proposed a draft Framework Plan for Wheat Rust Control and an Emergency Action Plan for Turkmenistan. As FAO expert Makhbubjon Rakhmatov explained, the document includes monitoring of the spread, timely treatment with a wide coverage of grain fields.

The seminar also considered the development of a national strategy and emergency action plan to prevent and combat wheat rust. Among the 20 presentations were reports from Turkmen specialists from two research institutes - agriculture and grain growing, which are part of the structure of the agricultural department of Turkmenistan.

During their week-long stay in Turkmenistan, the delegation of scientists held meetings in the building of the Ashgabat agro-industrial complex with specialists and researchers from departmental research institutes and agricultural universities, and specialized FAO structures in Ashgabat.

Turkmenistan's participation in regional programs and projects with the support of FAO, including on grain protection, is carried out on the basis of the Framework Program for Cooperation with this UN structure for the period 2021–2025 signed by the Government of the country, the source notes.